A nuclear reactor at a plant in western Japan was to be suspended Wednesday due to water leaks from a pressurizer valve, dpa quoted local media as reporting. Kansai Electric Power Co said it was manually shutting reactor 2 at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, located on the Sea of Japan coast, some 300 kilometres west of Tokyo. The reactor was originally scheduled to be halted on December 18 for a regular checkup. The operator said it was seeking to identify the cause of the malfunction at the plant, Kyodo News reported. Following the shutdown, a total of nine of its 11 reactors in the region will have been suspended. The latest shutdown also means that only 8 of the nation's 54 reactors will remain in operation due to public fears in the wake of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 250 kilometres north-east of Tokyo. The plant has been leaking radioactive material into the environment since it was hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Its three reactors suffered meltdowns. The twin natural disasters left 15,840 dead and 3,529 missing.